Help! Kids' Movie Recommendations Please

[AnaKhouri]

So, the man-child Khan will be 3 in about 6 weeks. He gets a very limited amount of TV time most of the week, about an hour per day, so a while back Husband and I decided to have Family Movie Night every Saturday. We have watched quite a few movies with him, but because we haven't seen any kids' movies in ages, and because he's a pretty sensitive, we're running out of titles we know are good (my favorite movies when I was his age were The Last Unicorn, Annie, and The Secret of NIMH. Annie is out because he wants nothing to do with live-action unless it involves Muppets, and the other two are kind of disturbing for a kid who frequently has nightmares).

So peoples of CS, help me out here. We have seen:

The Sword in the Stone
The Rescuers
Peter Pan (Disney)
The Great Mouse Detective
Robin Hood (Disney)
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
Kung Fu Panda
Monsters vs. Aliens
Snoopy Come Home
My Neighbor Totoro
The Cat Returns
Ponyo

I need movies that are appropriate (and by that I mean not too violent or gritty, besides language and sex etc). We are thinking Aladdin (Disney), The Jungle Book, and maybe Toy Story.

He loves superheroes, but are The Incredibles and Despicable Me OK? Also dinosaurs, pirates, trucks, knights...is How to Tame Your Dragon decent? (we prefer movies that won't bore us to tears as wekk(

Any other suggestions are welcome as well, age doesn't matter (he loves the old Max Fleischer Superman cartoons) and neither does country of origin as long as it is dubbed into English(there is no currently available dubbed version of Taro the Dragon Boy, sadly).

Thanks peeps!

[Jay 2K Winger]

I love me a good animated film.

The Incredibles might be a little scary for a 3 year old, but Despicable Me is tame enough.

How to Train Your Dragon is another great one. But again, 3 is a little young, and maybe you should wait until he's older. Aladdin's a good classic, too.

[fireheart]

Since you're along the lines of anime, I can recommend a few more Studio Ghibli Titles (My collection is woefully lacking at the moment):

-The Borrower Arrietty (not the crappy 90's film, the anime one that came out recently)

-Pom Poko (The story is about a group of tanuki who try and save their home from being destroyed by construction workers. This one has one or two creepy scenes though, albeit short ones: the worst involves a guy running away from people with no faces)

-The New Muppets film (if he hasn't already seen that)

Toy Story and Aladdin sound like good ones. (Friend of mine has a kidlet slightly older than Khan and has watched Toy Story 1 and 2)

This website might be useful for you as well. It contains a list of more recent films and each one has a review on what the movie contains that helps justify their recommendations. (Ignore the stuff about 3D) Of the ones you suggested

Despicable Me

The Incredibles

How To Train Your Dragon (not tame )

This one may or may not bore you slightly, but Babe? (as in the pig)

Here's the website. The ages are there as a guide, don't let that stop you from deciding what films are best for Khan, the ones I listed all are against kids roughly Khan's age seeing those sort of films. (they have no problem with Alvin and the Chipmunks tho )

http://www.youngmedia.org.au/mediach...oose_films.htm

[Kheldarson]

Any Pixar film is going to be fine, although the story lines (like Incredibles and Up ) are not going to be comprehensible per se at his age. But they're clean, cute, and all in all, wholesome. Disney animated films are in the same boat.

Despicable Me was great, it's clean, bright, but gets a bit dark since it's following villains mostly (dark as in the "bad" values win for a while. But he learns). How to Tame Your Dragon has lots of explosions but was still neat overall. Both of these movies have the same plot line issue for a three year old.

Miyazaki films are always awesome, but I think you've watched the ones that are really good for his age group. But you might throw in Castle in the Sky. That's a good one.

Things I watched with my brothers growing up: Blue's Clues videos, all things Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine, FHE videos, CCC videos (Christian animated videos outlining the lives of saints. 30 minutes, cute, and hits the high points), Teletubbies were big for a while...and there were lots of repeats.

[AnaKhouri]

Wow, thanks for the website! That's very helpful. I didn't know Arietty was on DVD either, we'll definitely watch that!

Husband is a little concerned about Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle. I know he won't like Babe unfortunately as the animatronic animals don't look goofy (Muppety) enough. When he's older. He loves robots but Husband says The Iron Giant is very sad (I haven't seen it).

[42_42_42]

Monsters, Inc.
All 3 of the Toy Story Movies
Ratatouille
Cars (I haven't seen Cars 2, but it's probably a safe bet)
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles

Basically, any of the Pixar movies will be fine, as will any of the Disney animated films. He'd probably especially like the 2 Winnie the Pooh films. I've been watching Snow White and Sleeping Beauty for over a year now with our friends' little girl, who just turned 3 and she loved them. The 2 Fantasias are fabulous for little ones, IMHO.

All of the Muppet movies are ok except the Dark Crystal. Save that one for much later.

As for Dino movies, there is the Land Before Time series. I never saw more than the 1st one, but they were pretty much all made for the preschool set.

Veggie Tales are a good series, but it is overtly Christian (a plus or minus, depending).

Despicable me, Kung Fu Panda, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Over the Hedge, Shrek, and Ice Age should all be okay, too.

I know you said he doesn't like live action, be he might like Pete's Dragon as the dragon is a cartoon that interacts with the live actors.

Milo and Otis is live action, but since it stars animals and only animals, he might like it (might put Mom and Dad to sleep, though).

[42_42_42]

Yeah, he's too young for the Iron Giant.

[Aethian]

I think Babe might raise the wrong questions if he knows what a shot gun is.

[Kheldarson]

Iron Giant has all the sad. Great movie though.

My oldest brother (I've got three younger bros) loved Pete's Dragon when we were growing up. It was always "Pizza Dragon!!" when movie time came up. ^_^

My youngest brother loved Fantasia. And the middle one adored Inspector Gadget. Don't remember what film I went crazy for growing up. But I'm thinking Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella for some reason.

Oh! We also really enjoyed the Disney Sing-A-Long Songs. Those are coming out on DVD now.

[Aethian]

OH! Yes some of the older Disney movies likes "Pete's Dragon" would be good. What was the name of the one with the black lamb?

[Kheldarson]

Google says it's a movie called "So Dear To My Heart". That sound familiar?

[Pixilated]

Any Pixar film is going to be fine, although the story lines (like Incredibles and Up ) are not going to be comprehensible per se at his age. But they're clean, cute, and all in all, wholesome. Disney animated films are in the same boat.

*snip*

Things I watched with my brothers growing up: Blue's Clues videos, all things Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine, FHE videos, CCC videos (Christian animated videos outlining the lives of saints. 30 minutes, cute, and hits the high points), Teletubbies were big for a while...and there were lots of repeats.

Kheldarson beat me to it; I was going to suggest checking out some Pixar movies. And I know my nephew (now 5) loved Thomas the Tank Engine for a while.

Monsters, Inc.
All 3 of the Toy Story Movies
Ratatouille
Cars (I haven't seen Cars 2, but it's probably a safe bet)
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles

Basically, any of the Pixar movies will be fine, as will any of the Disney animated films. He'd probably especially like the 2 Winnie the Pooh films. I've been watching Snow White and Sleeping Beauty for over a year now with our friends' little girl, who just turned 3 and she loved them. The 2 Fantasias are fabulous for little ones, IMHO.

*snip*

A lot of my favourite movies in that there!

However, one warning about the original Fantasia if you haven't seen it: for the most part it's light and breezy and quite child-friendly ... but there's one segment in particular -- I think it's at the end -- called Night on Bald Mountain (you can find the segment on YouTube). If he's already prone to nightmares ... make darn sure you turn the video off before this plays or none of you will sleep for a month!

[Aethian]

Google says it's a movie called "So Dear To My Heart". That sound familiar?

Yup. Thanks. My google-fu sucks right now.

[AnaKhouri]

Oh, I saw The Dark Crystal when I was five and was so traumatized I didn't watch it again until I was 25 (disintegrating skeksis uggggggh!).

I tried to show him Cars but he wanted to turn it off about 20 minutes in. I thought he would love it but he wasn't into it at all. Ah well, less merchandising fever for me to keep at bay!

DC has made a ton of great films based on their characters but unfortunately I have not seen a single one I would let him watch. Waaaaay too adult.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

How to Train a Dragon was really a fun movie. The dragons might be a little scary for a three year old...maybe...you know your kid, but I would think it would probably be okay.

Spirit is a pretty good movie, as another poster said. Loved that one.

I really love the Barbie movies, believe it or not. They are actually quite good.

The Iron Giant is one of my favorites. I don't know how a three year old would take it, my kid and her cousin saw it at that age, but there are some intense scenes in it that might scare a little kid. Again, you know your kid.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids might be okay but I have to tell you that (spoiler alert, scroll over. The ant dies and it made my kid cry.